MSU Provost receives plans to reduce budget

Results from university-wide budget discussions are slated to land on Provost Kim Wilcox’s desk today in the form of possible cost-saving recommendations.

In a Sept. 8 memorandum, Wilcox challenged college deans to examine their college’s structures and functions, including curricula and academic programs, for possible savings. Almost six weeks later, responses are in.

“I hope to have some set of recommendations that I believe that I can endorse here in the next couple weeks so we can get to a point where we can then start the process we talked about in September of moving many of these recommendations into governance,” Wilcox said at a Faculty Council meeting Tuesday.

The submitted recommendations are part of a larger university initiative to meet a projected 15 to 20 percent reduction in MSU’s operating budget during the next three years. At previous meetings, Wilcox has stressed he will favor recommendations calling for new ways to restructure the college and its programs over those without many calls for change.

R. James Kirkpatrick, dean of the College of Natural Science, said several of the college’s recommendations won’t require action from Wilcox because they offer a description of how each department plans to alter its current procedures.

Kirkpatrick submitted the college’s set of recommendations Thursday.

“We’re going to have to keep individual recommendations confidential,” Kirkpatrick said. “There are big budget cuts, so the issue is to reposition the budget in such that the cuts do the least damage and actually we can continue to build programs.”

Although some college deans can breathe a sigh of relief, others continue to race against time as they put the finishing touches on their recommendations.

Officials in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources began budget-cutting discussions last year, but held off turning in a final draft of proposals until today, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Spokeswoman Ruth Borger said.

“Our focus is really on how do we need to be structured to best serve our community,” Borger said.

Wilcox said Tuesday there will be eliminations across the university, but where and when those cuts will come depends on the received recommendations and discussions with MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon and other university officials. Officials said if a program is cut, current students will be able to continue in the program.

Borger said today marks a new chapter for the colleges.

“The conversation continues, and the work and details of the plans now will start to come out and be able to be prioritized,” Borger said. “It’s not like it’s done. It’s really a beginning.”